WOAI Local News Sponsored by Five Star Cleaners

SA in the Hunt for 2017 College Football Championship Game

The big business that is college football will switch to a four team playoff system to determine the champion starting after the 2014 season, and San Antonio wants a piece of the action.

The Valero Alamo Bowl says it has submitted what it says is an 'aggressive' bid to host the 2017 National Championship game, which will be played following the 2016 season.

At the heart of the presentation is a vide which shows participants walking from their downtown hotel to major tourist attractions like the Riverwalk and then to the Alamodome, all in sixty minutes, emphasizing the compact and walkable nature of San Antonio's hotels, attractions, and the venue for the game.

Gregg Tally, a convention management consultant who frequently works with San Antonio events, and who recently helped present the huge Alcoholics Anonymous convention which attracted 50,000 people, says in the presentation that "I judge a city by how frequently I hear the word 'no,' which is something I never hear in San Antonio."

"We want a place that resonates, a place that people can feel comfortable in," Talley says about the Convention Center, which would act as the headquarters for the game.

Part of the bid, interestingly, is a tweet sent out by ESPN's Dana O'Neill which says simply 'Bid process for future Final Four sites open. May I humbly suggest Indianapolis, New Orleans, and San Antonio. No one else need apply.'

But plenty of cities are applying for the 2017 National Championship game. San Antonio will face off against San Francisco, Miami, Tampa, Minneapolis, and Jacksonville.

The playoff system will use existing bowl games for the first round.

The first Championship Game, in January of 2015, will take place at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Cowboys, in Arlington.